Rock Candy

Evanescence has a new album out

Evanescence — the goth-tinged Nu metal outfit whose leader Amy Lee once called Arkansas home — today released a self-titled album, its first record in five years. Here are a few critics’ takes thus far:

* Nick Catucci of Rolling Stone said of the album that “the sometimes syrupy mix of piano, guitar and strings feels more like a formula than a genuine catharsis,” and that the album lacked anything as “saucy” as “Call Me When You’re Sober,” from the 2006 album “The Open Door.”

* Arkansas native Mikael Wood, writing for the Los Angeles Times music blog, gave the album 2.5 stars out of a possible four. Though it “delivers plenty of pain-soaked pleasure,” the album also feels “a little battened-down, as though its steadfast familiarity were an act of resistance against the dance-pop Barbies at the gate. A livelier album seems to lurk inside this one, struggling to sneak past its creator.”

* Chris Willman of Reuters was considerably less generous, pulling no punches from the start: "If you need a textbook example of how a band can take a successful signature sound and run it into the ground, Evanescence's third album is here to provide a case study in repetitive stress for your Ruts 101 class."